1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a method for modification of the surface of a body, especially a film-shaped body, wherein a fibre-containing substance comprising nano-sized polysaccharide fibre particles is dispersed in a medium essentially composed of water and a polar solvent to form a suspension, wherein said suspension is applied onto said surface by a printing method. The invention concerns also a product comprising such a fibre-containing substance, dispersed in a medium and suitable for disposing by the inkjet printing method.
2. Description of Related Art
Nanocellulose is a polymeric substance composed of nanosized cellulose fibres (nanofibres) where the nanofiber structuring determines the properties of the product. Due to the extraordinary supramolecular structure and exceptional product characteristics, nanocelluloses have received increasing attention. Nanocellulose is proposed for use in a great variety of technical fields. For a review, see D. Klemm et al., “Nanocelluloses as innovative polymers in research and application”, Advances in Polymer Science, 2006, vol. 205 pp. 49-96.
The inkjet printing technique is a non-contact printing method meaning that the printhead and the substrate (the sheet to be printed) are not in contact with each other during the printing process. The principle of inkjet printing is to transfer separate ink drops through small nozzles to a defined area on the substrate to be printed.
This technique enables printing of all kinds of substrates. Thus rigid and flexible as well as smooth and uneven substrates can be used. Suitable substrates are for example paper, board, plastic, wood, etc.
The inkjet printing technique is very widely used and described in many patent publications. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,756 and EP 1 957 589 describe inkjet ink formulations incorporating cellulose derivatives as binding agents. U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,868 describes ink formulations comprising cellulose derivatives for use in coating of paper substrates. In all these patents, the role of the cellulose derivatives is to act as binding agents for the pigments.
EP 2 055 949 describes an inkjet method where an organic polymer is applied onto a substrate of paper or the like in order to create a security marker thereon.
The published US patent application US 2009/181478 describes disposing of a nanosized material by inkjet application onto a tape.